My PA Job Was Killing Me—Here’s How I Took My Life Back

I started working as a Personal Assistant in a clearing and forwarding company thinking it would be a typical 9 to 5 job. Boy, was I wrong. My day started at 8 AM, and on paper, it ended at 8 PM. But in reality, I was always on call. My boss had a knack for giving me tasks right when I was about to leave. “It’s just a quick thing,” he’d say, but those quick things would stretch into hours.

I wasn’t just doing my job; I was doing everyone else’s too. My colleagues, who earned more than me, would offload their work onto me because I was the PA, and apparently, that meant I was responsible for everything. The stress was relentless. I wasn’t sleeping well, I wasn’t eating well, and my body started to break down. I developed low blood pressure and started having these strange, vivid dreams where I was being chased by masquerades. It felt like my mind was telling me to run, but I didn’t know how to escape.

One day, after yet another 12-hour shift, I collapsed. I was rushed to the hospital, and the doctor told me my body was under too much stress. That was my wake-up call. I realized I couldn’t keep sacrificing my health for a job that didn’t care about me. I handed in my resignation the next day. It wasn’t easy, but I knew I had to choose myself for once. Now, I’m in a better place, physically and mentally, and I’ve learned the hard way that no job is worth your health.